Nov. 8, 2016 Complete Release in PDF Format 
WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE: The seventh-ranked University of San Diego women's volleyball team (21-3, 12-1 WCC) will host their final two home regular-season matches this week inside the friendly confines of the Jenny Craig Pavilion. On Thursday, USD will take on the University of the Pacific in a 7 p.m. WCC match. Then on Saturday, USD will close out the home schedule with a 12 p.m. WCC match against Gonzaga.
LAST TIME OUT: The seventh-ranked University of San Diego women's volleyball team posted another 2-0 record this past week, sweeping away both Saint Mary's College and the University of the Pacific, to improve to 21-3 overall, and 12-1 in the WCC. In Thursday's sweep of the Gaels,
Jayden Kennedy led all players with her 14 kills on 34 swings, while also recording a pair of digs.
Lauren Schad was the only other Torero in double-digit kills, as she had 13 on 18 swings, to hit for a .611 clip.
Kristen Gengenbacher led the team with 21 assists, while
Anna Newsome added in 18 more assists.
Hunter Jennings led the defense with 18 digs, running her double-digit dig streak up to seven. As a team, USD hit for a .327 clip, while SMC hit .170. The Toreros recorded 49 kills, to the Gaels' 32, and recorded 47 digs, to SMC's 33. In USD's sweep over pacific this past Saturday,
Kaity Edwards led all players with 13 kills on 15 swings, while only committing two errors to hit for a .733 clip, which ties her for seventh best single match hitting percentage in program history. Both
Lisa Kramer and
Lauren Schad chipped in with nine kills, while
Thana Fayad had 16 digs, and
Hunter Jennings chipped in with 11 digs.
Kristen Gengenbacher had 25 assists. As a team, USD hit for a .291 clip while the Tigers hit .188. USD recorded 48 kills, to UOP's 35, and San Diego out blocked Pacific, 6.0-5.0.
THE RANKINGS: The University of San Diego women's volleyball team held steady at No. 7 in the latest AVCA top-25 poll. This marks the ninth consecutive week USD has been ranked in the top-10. USD's highest ranking ever was No. 2, back in the 2013 season.
THEW.TV: This season San Diego will once again be featured on the West Coast Conference's digital platform, TheW.tv, in 14 home matches, and a few select road matches. All 14 plus of those productions will have a multi-camera high definition broadcast with a play-by-play announcer. All watch links for those matches can be found on the USD women's volleyball schedule page.
SCOUTING THE PILOTS: Portland enters the match with an overall record of 14-11, and they are 8-6 in the WCC after picking up a 3-1 win over Pepperdine, then falling to Loyola Marymount, 3-0. San Diego leads the all-time series at 51-8, including sweeping the Pilots in the first meeting of the season in Portland. The Pilots offense is paced by Hannah Troutman, who has a team-best 213 kills, while hitting for a .179 clip. Thompson also has the second most digs on the team with 172. The floor leader for Portland is Cali Thompson, who has 519 assists, while helping steer the team to a .192 attack percentage.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: Gonzaga enters the week with an overall record of 14-9, and they are 7-6 in the WCC after dropping a 3-0 decision to Loyola Marymount, then bouncing back with a 3-2 win over Pepperdine this past week. USD leads the all-time series at 48-9, and have not lost to the Zags since 1994. The Bulldogs offense is paced by Emmy Allen, who has a team-leading 318 kills, while hitting for a .253 clip. The floor leader for GU is setter Faith Smith, who has 513 assists, while helping steer the Zags offense to a team attack percentage of .223.
RPI UPDATE: After picking up a pair of wins this past week, USD's RPI is holding steady at No. 5. San Diego is currently the highest rated West Coast team, but closely followed by BYU (7), Stanford (8), Washington (13), and UCLA (14).
RECORD WATCH: A few Toreros are breaking into the all-time top-10 lists in a few categories. Senior libero Hunter Jennings has moved herself into the top-10 list for career digs, now with 1,391, which places her second all-time, 73 behind the all-time leader, Jackie Bernardine, who has 1,464. Senior middle hitter Lauren Schad is closing in on breaking into the top-10 list in career blocks, as she currently has 278, which is just one away from cracking into the top-10 list.
NOW THAT'S EFFICIENT: Junior middle hitter Kaity Edwards had quite the efficient match in USD's sweep over Pacific, as she recorded 13 kills on 15 swings, while only committing two errors to hit for a .733 clip, which ties her for seventh best single match hitting percentage in program history.
CAN YOU DIG IT?: San Diego senior libero Hunter Jennings has been hot for the Toreros as of late. Over the last 12 matches, Jennings has recorded double-digit digs in all but one of them, and is currently riding a eight-match double-digit digs streak. On the season, Jennings has recorded 335 digs (3.99 dps).
LEADING THE NATION: San Diego, as a team, is currently leading the nation in kills-per-set at 14.99, and in assists-per-set at 13.96. As a team, USD has recorded 1,259 total kills, and 1,173 total assists.
PERFECTION AT HOME: So far, USD is a perfect 13-0 at home, and will look to move that to 15-0 this week with home matches against Gonzaga and Portland. USD in home matches is hitting .297, while holding opponents to .200. San Diego has recorded 657 kills, while opponents have only recorded 486 kills. Three different players have recorded 100 or more kills, paced by Lisa Kramer's 176.USD has also only managed to drop seven sets all year ling inside the JCP.
RECRUITING CLASS RANKED NO. 9: Volleyball magazine has released its top-10 recruiting classes in the country, and the University of San Diego checks in at No. 9, the only non BCS school on this list. Here is what they had to say about USD's class... Two interesting names in this group are foreign players Thana Fayad and Anna Newsome "These two are much further along than most freshman," longtime San Diego associate head coach Brent Hilliard said. "Thana has a chance to be the best outside hitter to ever come through San Diego. She is a full six-rotation player who can hit out of the front and back row. Anna played in the top level of the Italian Series at 18 years of age. She has been setting athletes almost twice her age and is more developed then 99 percent of the setters coming into college." San Diego is also high on Payton Douglass, a libero from a lesser-known Washington club. Megan Jacobsen will help the team in the middle. "She's the best middle-hitting prospect we have had in a long time," said Hilliard. "She can hit hard off one or two feet and has an internal battery that already is tops on our team." Eylers can set and play the right side, while Priest will help on the defensive end. "This is the best class we've had in over a decade," said Hilliard.
A PAIR OF TOREROS NAMED PRESEASON ALL-WCC: Senior setter Kristen Gengenbacher, and senior outside hitter Lisa Kramer were both named to the preseason All-WCC team. Gengenbacher had a breakout season in her sophomore campaign, recording a career-high 1,095 assists (9.69 aps), while helping steer the Torero offense to a .220 attack percentage. Gengenbacher recorded a team-best 10 double-doubles, and a career-high 68 assists in a win against Pepperdine on Sept. 29. Gengenbacher recorded 30 or more assists on 20 occasions. Kramer, an AVCA All-American last year, paced the USD offense last season with a career-high 494 kills, which moves her into 10th on the single-season kills list at USD. Kramer managed to also set a modern-era record for kills in a match with 31. Since the NCAA switched to the 25-point sets in 2008, no Torero has been able to crack the 30-kill plateau, until Kramer did it on September 29, 2015 against Pepperdine. Last season, Kramer was named WCC Player of the Week twice, and was named to the All-tournament team of the UC Santa Barbara Tournament. Kramer finished the regular-season with 127 digs and 73 blocks.
PICKED TO WIN IT: After making its sixth consecutive NCAA Tournament and 19th overall, San Diego was picked as the favorite to win the 2016 West Coast Conference Volleyball Championship in the annual preseason poll of the WCC's 10 coaches. The top three teams were separated by 11 votes, with 10 points separating the Toreros from the three-time defending WCC champion and 2015 NCAA Sweet-16 participant, BYU. San Diego collected 78 points and seven first place votes, while the Cougars collected 68 points with one first place vote. Fresh off its second straight NCAA Tournament berth, Santa Clara was tabbed third with 67 votes and picked up the remaining two first place votes. Loyola Marymount marched to the 2015 NCAA Sweet-16 and was picked to finish fourth with 59 points.
23 YEARS OF DOMINATION, AND COUNTING: As we begin the 2016 schedule, lets take a look back over the last 23 years of Torero volleyball, and their impact on the WCC. Since 1994, USD has made the NCAA Tournament 19 times...they have won 15 NCAA Tournament matches...Produced 12 All-Americans...won nine WCC championships...had nine WCC Players of the Year...45 All-WCC honorees...four WCC Defensive Players of the Year...three Sweet 16 appearances...and have taken down one No. 1 ranked team. USD has won seven of the last 10 WCC championships.
I NEED STATS STAT!: All San Diego volleyball home matches can be followed via Gametracker, on the Toreros athletic web site at usdtoreros.com. Gametracker is a real time update of the action. Selected San Diego road matches are also available via Gametracker and Statbroadcast. To see if live stats are available for a match, go to San Diego volleyball schedule page, and if any type of live stats are available, you will see those links there.
